Balancing toys on which a child may walk are well known. Thus, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,644 of Stinchcomb discloses a walk-on type of horizontal rail with cross-ties and a platform at one end of such rail having a foot switch-controlled timing mechanism. A similar balancing toy is also disclosed in Mark Dorman's U.S. Des. Pat. No. D308,698. The entire disclosure of each of these United States patents is hereby incorporated by reference into this specification.
There is a substantial body of research indicating that when a visual image is reinforced by auditory input, the learning process is enhanced. It would be desirable to have an educational balance beam toy which, when a child steps upon a specified symbol (such as a shape, color, number, or letter), the toy will speak the name of such indicia to the child. To the best of applicant's knowledge, no such device has been provided or suggested by the prior art.
It is an object of this invention to provide an educational balance beam toy which, when a child steps upon a specified symbol (such as a shape, color, number, or letter), the toy will speak the name of such indicia to the child.